If it can make money and Jean Auel is interested in money, I'm sure it will be made into a movie franchise. I certainly hope so as the books were great. The technologies these days may even allow for suitably realistic CGI animation rather than using live characters (vis-à-vis Polar Express). This might also address one of the challenges I see with the production - realistic looking Neanderthals. IMHO that was one of the problems with the Daryl Hannah version - the clan were too homo sapien.
I liked the original movie a lot. Daryl Hannah was perfect for the role and while I would love to see her naked, I think it would have been a mistake in this movie. The story is fundamentally empowering for women and nudity on the screen (not to be mistaken with on-screen sex) would have been too distracting and robbed it of some of its punch.
As for the laments that the sequels would be little more than porn, I don't think so. With the nasty, brutish, and short lives of early humans, sex and procreation must have been about the only thing that made life worth living. If this was reality, it can and should be depicted in the movies - tastefully I would hope. Now as a short aside that I find amusing, as I recall from the books, Jondolar started out with, how shall I say this, with a physical attribute that we might describe as being consistent with being "Jewish". In the next book, he converted back to the state he was born with. I realize Ms. Auel is a thorough researcher but it seems like this particular detail got confused and slipped through.
Anyway, like I said, I enjoyed the original movie but I also agree it had a number of shortcomings. I'm not sure how to best overcome these with a remake and sequels. Here’s my list:
1. Clan signing with written captions to translate: Personally I don't mind this one bit and it is also more true to the books, but I think it may throw cold water on the prospect of a major production. The books are LOTR long and reading (as opposed to hearing) dialog can limit the pace of the story telling. If an expert were to ask me, I'd suggest that maybe a hybrid would work. The actors could do voice-overs of the dialog in synch to their on-screen grunting and gesticulating... the director's challenge might be to avoid making it seem like a dubbed over kung-fu movie.
2. Neanderthals as comely characters: It's funny that in the original story, Ayla was described as ugly - from a Neanderthal point of view. But in the original movie, not only were the homo sapiens (Daryl Hanna and her beau) good looking, the Neanderthals were mostly good looking too. In fact Iza was kind of hot and stood out in the same way she (the same actress) did as the wife of Gordon "Hotdog" Cooper did in "The Right Stuff". Even Creb with his one eye wasn't terribly hideous. To stay true to the book, the clan people will have to be big and ugly (by our current standards of beauty). Will people go see a movie with mostly ugly protohumans? I'm not so sure they will in light of the mediocre success of recent movies like "The Hulk".
3. Sex: The books' writings are strong on imagery and in my opinion far better at it than the LOTR books. Even the characters' dialogs are described in visual terms (see 1 above). So how to get around the many sex scenes such as the many times he gawks at her naked body? I champion putting it in and fighting the censors, the conservative bible thumpers, and other protestors. Just keep it tasteful. The first books were published in the eighties and were favorites of girls and young women around the world. If the movies are honest to the books without being too explicit by our current standards, maybe these same, now older, women will allow their own daughters and sons to see the films. Like I said, it’s empowering for women and that might rule the day.
4. Credibility: The first book/movie was based on some real archaeological finds that I first saw published in National Geographic. The subsequent sequels had less and less archeological evidence to draw upon until by the final book the stories were embracing overt metaphysical phenomena. Somewhere along the way Ayla’s story crossed the line from historical fiction to fantasy.
Okay, enough said except… Ms. Auel, make your movies if you wish, I’ll go see them. Don’t worry if you don’t want to. Your books will always trump a movie version and what’s more, they’ll likely stand the test of time as they’ve already been 25,000 years in the making. I can easily imagine someone 300 years from now READING Clan of the Cave Bear and enjoying it like we might enjoy Wuthering Heights today. I doubt people will take in a movie version of the story in 300 years. It will be too twentieth centuryish.
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Naomi_Ravenmoon
19 years ago
Actually, a Voice Over, if done right, would be interesting. The Clan members didn't talk much anyway, it was all body language, so the fear of 'bad-dubbing' would be nil. If the voice-over's were done 'softly' (i can't think of anyother way to say it) I would like it, and we'd be seeing the clan world as much like Ayla did as possible.
Ironically, i think that Movie-Creb was the most clan-looking of the bunch.
To imply nudity, one doesn't have to show the whole body, that is one solution. I've seen it done before.
And 95% of the time, a book always trumps the movie. LoTR is the first that doesn't, mostly because i can't seem to read the books, and "The Chronicles of Narnia" is the second. The books are ok, but the movie was so much more, made the story so much more real.
Naomi Silverflame, of the Kingdom of the Golden Plains (gotta love Amtgard =^-^=)
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akimbo9
19 years ago
this book is amazing but in my personal opinion would not translate well to film.
no one can take cave people seriosly, and ayla discovers to many thing which would be rubbed in the audiences face if a film was made. Along with this some of the stuff is so cringe 'womanmaker?' that i would probably throw up if they where said in front of a room of non-readers.
however it would be intresting to know which actor had enough inches to live up to jondolers pocket rocket.
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